Ramya Krishnan is a senior staff attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute and a lecturer in law at Columbia Law School. Her litigation focuses on issues related to government transparency, protest, privacy, and social media. Krishnan leads the Knight Institute’s litigation in National Association of Immigration Judges v. Neal, which challenges government policies that gag the nation’s immigration judges. She was a central member of the team challenging “prepublication review,” a far-reaching censorship system that prohibits millions of former public servants from speaking without first obtaining government approval. She has authored amicus briefs defending state privacy laws from First Amendment challenge, challenging retaliatory deportations against immigrant activists, and supporting the right of state contractors to engage in BDS boycotts. She has also led the Institute’s advocacy efforts calling on Congress to establish a legal safe harbor for platform research. Krishnan has been published or quoted in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and Slate, among other publications. She was the Knight Institute’s inaugural legal fellow.
